London riots blamed on video games

Cop says riots inspired by Grand Theft Auto

A policeman has laid the blame for the recent riots in London at violent, crime-related video games.

Quoted in the London Evening Standard the unnamed police constable advised residents in Tottenham: “"Go home, get a takeaway and watch anything that happens on TV.

"These are bad people who did this. Kids out of control. When I was young it was all Pacman and board games. Now they're playing Grand Theft Auto and want to live it for themselves."

The newspaper reports that the police are hunting mobs of children who joined the riots across the capital “when parts of the city descended into lawlessness for a second night”.

Grand Theft Auto is set mainly in American cities but was created in the UK, with the original release featuring an expansion pack set in London.

The violent game in which players act out the crime-filled lives of various gangsters and lowlifes is frequently blamed for encouraging youths to commit crimes.

The looting and arson that has spread to several inner-city boroughs began in Tottenham on Saturday night, sparked by the fatal police shooting of a local man (reportedly armed with a replica firearm) on Thursday.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said that over 160 arrests had been made so far, and that 16 people have been charged for a range of offences including burglary and possession of weapons.

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Comments

Ross D Lane said: Video games are not to blame believe me right now if mw3 and Bf3 become banned in the UK im sure there will be more riots than ever if you are going to ban a game make it GTA there is no need to ban games like mw3 or bf3 because they arent encouraging riots if anything GTA is encouraging gangs n stuff so dont ban games like mw3 and bf3 just ban gta

Matt Egan said: Can I point out that we are merely reporting what a police officer said and in no-way endorsing that viewpoint After all we review a lot of games and have a games forum This is not a site that is against gamers

Guest said: And I play ALOT of violent games yet I havent commited any crimes and I am a decent nice guy Bloody leftistsmorons dont know what they are talking about heres something i learned from my dad IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THEN ITS BEST TO BE QUIET ABOUT IT unless a credited psychologist valid one says so I dont believe these headline grabbers Screw you pcadvisor

Guest said: they not we oh and why dont you guys stop spending on the world spend on fixing those slum societies that makes 3rd world countries look good and try to control police brutality Oh and the police shot the guy the guy was unarmed and he was defending the girl who was beaten up by police from throwing rocks at them hence the spread hence the snapping of the community and all who knew him hence not taking any shit and hence the shitstorm of protests and destruction the people who kill steal and plunder are all idiots they are innocent the police are guilty as hell so dont kill any by-standers

Stalker said: I wrote something about this on a battlefield 3 thread where the uk are threatening to ban those games And yeah you are right just stupid governments and ppl playing what we call here in australia the blame-game God save england screw the queen she can rot in hell for all i care corrupted governments suck oh whats next we strip other minoritiess rights by feeding other people more lies like these ones and have more idiot medias paying journalists to lie in their article and their interviews seriously fuck the media

Stalker said: biggest load of crap i swear

Link said: Of course it was grand theft auto 4 These silly kids were just enjoying the game for 3 andhalf straight yearsand now they felt like rioting Of course that makes sense OR another group of conservative idiots want to find a new Marilyn Mansonto use as a scapegoat so we dont have to blame politics or lack of family guidance or a class-based economy as part of the riots People who blame video games sicken me

seeyouentee said: A police set up as usual 330 people have died in police custody in the last 12 or 15 years and not one copper has been held accountable The man Mr Duggan who was murdered by police was set up If anyone here would like to take their eyes away from the mainstream media from your corporate newspapers and look at it from another view for once please do

MillionlittleE said: I like how they dont say it was the kids who committed the crimes--

Millionlittlee said: Ok so a smart cop and a dumb cop sees a 100 dollar bill who takes it The dumb cop smart ones dont exist

Jack T H said: to mutch gunnshop

Thantos said: god this cop is retarded video games are not to blame this is the end result of bad parenting and the pathetic lack of severe punishment from the lawjesus christ am i getting sick of these retarded people blaming video games for everything you can bet your ass if they start bannign video games Rioting is going to be the least of thier worries

Grant Sullivan said: Wow some people are just way over the edge hes just mad because he cantt complete the first mission of GTA

Daniel said: Actually no its probably about bad parenting but it doesnt have anything to do with video games There was violence and riots before video games and contrary to this article it has been proven that video games have reduced the acts of violence

Dsa said: The cause of this is the most important

taxiturtle said: Im working on a paper currently about how gaming has the exacty opposite affect and in fact has contributed the the crime drop weve experienced in the last two decades Hopefully I can make it good enough quality to be published and finally people of authority can be shown that perhaps their perceptions of video gaming and media entertainment being the source of many violence-related offences is fundamentally flawed and needs to be reconsidered

Guneet said: RETARD

Jake said: In stead of blaming mass inequality poor education and a society that judges success by material wealth for turning young people into compassionless idiots lets blame video gamesAre these the only kids who play violent games If not where are all the others and why arent they smashing windows too

Wildebeast1 said: Ok not to pick any bones with anyone but do people in Scotland or Wales not play GTAI know heaps of people who play violent games and havent started a riotThe violence was caused by small minded people without a proper education kinda like the guy quoted in the London Evening standard